Resources

Traffic Effects Research

This page last reviewed August 23, 2012

Many people are affected by the
effects of traffic.This page has of links to the studies that have been
done and are ongoing that involve some sort of measurement of the
possible exposure to air pollution from traffic on major roads

This review
provides information on scientific research that has been conducted on various building-related and site mitigation concepts suggested as potentially effective approaches for reducing the traffic-related exposures of those living near high traffic roadways.

This
study will use CHIS (California Health Interview Survey)2003 data
to examine air pollution exposure impacts on approximately 54,500
Californians, including 12,500 children. It will determine whether
asthma or asthma-like symptoms among low socio-economic status
individuals are associated with greater pollutant
exposures, greater vulnerabilities, or both, compared to the general
population.

This
study was conducted as a school-based, cross-sectional study in
Alameda County in 2001, and recruited a total of 1,109 students between
3rd and 5th grades. The study area was comprised of ten neighborhoods.
School sites were selected to represent a range of locations upwind and
downwind from major roads.

Extended
Analyses of Air Pollution and Cardiopulmonary Disease in the California Teachers Cohort (new - ongoing)

This augmentation of the “Air
Pollution and Cardiovascular Disease in the California Teachers Study
Cohort,” will extend these analyses by examining several unanswered
questions such as susceptible subgroups, critical time windows of PM
exposure to specific disease categories, effects in never-smokers,
specific cardiovascular causes of death, and others. This proposed
augmentation will be important for the next review of ambient air
quality standards for PM, and possibly for several gases, in California
and at the federal level.

Los
Angeles Family and Neighborhood Survey (LA FANS)

The objectives of this study are to
conduct NOx and NO2 monitoring at 200 locations within the Los Angeles
Family and Neighborhood Survey study domain for the development of the
land use-based regression model for the Los Angeles county area. The
findings from this study would help inform policy decisions on motor
vehicle emissions control and asthma prevention/control in low
socioeconomic status populations. They would also help in the
development of air pollution exposure models that could be used in
future epidemiological studies in L.A. County focused on different age
groups and different adverse health outcomes.

Spatiotemporal
Analysis of Air Pollution and Death (new - ongoing)

This study will derive assessments
of the health effects from particulate and gaseous air pollution on
all-cause and cause-specific death in California based on the American
Cancer Society cohort. The investigators will examine whether specific
particle characteristics are associated with larger health effects to
different particle constituents and sources of exposure; and will
determine how critical time, duration, and level of air pollution
exposure are in contributing to death in California.(Jarrett, et all)

Study
conducted inside of an active school bus to diagnose the effects of
traffic air pollution and bus "self pollution" to the occupants of the
school bus.

Concentration
and Size Distribution of Ultrafine Particles Near a Major Highway

Study
done by USC (Sioutas, et all) quantifying the particulate air pollution
amounts near the freeway traffic and the dissipation of the particulate
air pollution to ambient levels due to distance from the freeway
traffic. AWMA - Sept 2002, Vol 52, No. 9, 1032

The purpose of this study is to
investigate possible links between exposures to freeway-related
ultrafine and fine particles and cardiovascular effects through
controlled, on-road exposures of human volunteer subjects. This study
continuously monitors measures of cardiovascular health and in-vehicle
measurements of fine and ultrafine particles and gas phase pollutants
before, during, and after 2-hour exposures of freeway driving. The
results will aid ARB in evaluating the importance of motor vehicle
related ultrafine particles on cardiovascular health.